Bobby Moore in the USA

May the 14th 1977 As Bobby Moore waved goodbye to his football career, walking off after his last league game for Fulham v Blackburn Rovers, it wasn't to be his final farewell to playing football as the summer before he had spent a season in the burgeoning soccer scene in the United States where he played in Texas for the San Antonio Thunder. 

San Antonio played at the Alamo stadium and Moore appeared 24 times, for the Thunder including another match up against his old friend Pele as they beat the New York Cosmos 1-0, with Bobby setting up the winning goal. 

The season though was not a success as their stats show that they may have won 12 games but they lost 12 as well with no draws, though at that time in the NASL there were no tied game, extra time was played then a shoot off was held to decide any games with level scores.

They finished 4th in the league, with 107 points (don't ask) failing to make the playoffs and with only an average crowd of 4,700, which was only 300 more than the season before the writing was on the wall for the club.

Sadly at the end of the 1976 after just 2 seasons of existence the franchise was moved to Hawaii and renamed Team Hawaii and with it it seems Moore's journey in America.

While with San Antonio though Bobby had 1 more international tournament to appear in, to celebrate the two hundredth year of independence of the U.S of A, a 4 team competition was organised with England Italy Brazil and a North american soccer League representative team called Team America. 

The format was simple, each team played the three others with Some of the best stars of the NASL pulled on the red Jersey and swore allegiance (temporarily) to the cause

and so on May the 31st at Philadelphia's JFK stadium Bobby Moore led his Team America out against his beloved England, who were captained by QPR's Gerry Francis. The mercenaries though were out done by Revies England, wearing a strange Yellow kit for the only time, with England running out 3-1 winners (Keegan 2 T.Francis) and finishing runners up in the tournament to Brazil. Team America lost every game and would never appear again. 

                 

After his summer sojourn in Texas Moore was back at Fulham for what would be his last season yet he was not finished in America and a full year since his last game at Blackburn, and nearly 20 years since his debut for West Ham  he joined Seattle Sounders for the summer of 1978. 

Why Seattle, well probably the fact that his former hammers teamates Bobby Howe and Harry Redknapp were assisting the manager, Jimmy Gabriel. Seattle had reached the championship final the year before losing out to Pele's New York Cosmos and attracted good crowds, over 22,000 regularly, so in 1978 the fans were looking forward to another successful season and possibly so was Moore, but unlike his ever present season at the Thunder in Texas he managed just the 5 games, one of them again against the New York Cosmos with Seattle losing out 2-1.  Strangely for Moore he didn't wear the number 6 shirt he has become so synonymous with but the number 9    

Moore also appeared for the Jimmy Hill owned franchise of Detroit Express in a friendly in Austria alongside his great friend George Best, best scoring in a 2-2 draw.                               

                                 

And so it seems that would be the end of Bobby Moore the footballer but there was one more stop to come,in 1983  joining up with Ex Fulham pal Rodney Marsh at Carolina Lightnin, a minor league team in Charlotte North Carolina, Moore, now 42, was his assistant on the coaching team but one night it seems injuries to the team meant for one last time in a competitive game, Bobby Moore put on his boots, crossed the white line and rolled back the years. in an interview with an american magazine, one opposition player on the night described how he found himself up against a world legend. Glenn Davis was a rookie that summer with the ASL’s Pennsylvania Stoners and recalled his shock at finding Moore in the American Soccer League i

“Carolina had so many injuries they activated Bobby Moore to play that night against us.  Bobby was probably 43 years old and he obviously can’t move.  He’s kicking everything and everybody that he can get close to.  And we’re just going “Oh my God – it’s Bobby Moore.”

I remember we had a 2-0 lead and we absolutely crumbled in the final ten minutes with their fans going nuts.  They had probably about 7,000 or 8,000 fans in this cool little stadium in Charlotte.  I think it was called the Memorial Stadium.  We totally collapsed as a team and lost 3-2.  I remember our owner on the bus back to the hotel and screaming at one of our players.  I think a lot of us were just still in shock that Bobby Moore was playing that night.”

Moore and Marsh Carolina Lightnin

Its quite possible that the above picture is from the last competitive that Bobby Moore played in, Carolina had a poor season in 1983 but with the heyday of soccer is the U.S long over the ASL folded and so ended Moore's time in the states. He returns to England where he takes over at Southend United for 2 seasons. success eluded him there as well and professional football closed its door on him in 1986 when the Shrimpers languishing in the fourth tier of english football let him go. 

Charlie Paynter

Standing in the gym of the old West Stand at the Boleyn ground, Uncle Charlie as he was known lovingly by the players passes on his years of experience to the first team, including Vic Watson at the front in the middle and Jackie Morton front far left. Charlie possibly can lay claim to being the longest serving members ever of the coaching staff in the clubs history, he joined West Ham in 1901 just a year after we were formed and finally retired in 1950 after holding the positions of trainer, coach, and manager.

Born in Swindon on 28 July 1879 his father word as a ironworker for the great western railway, and it was his trade that brought Charles Snr and his family to West Ham around 1882 to work in the railway industry around the borough. They lived in Blanche street of Hermit Road just a stones throw away from the Thames Ironworks original playing field, in 1901 he lists his occupation as dock labourer though it has been said he worked as an electricians mate as well. It was in 1901 he joins the staff of west ham helping out Tom Robinson the trainer and eventually replacing him after his retirement 10 years later, and there he stayed for another 21 years until after Syd Kings suspension in 1932 and then his sacking in 1933 Charlie finally became manager of the first team. the move I imagined would of been welcomed by the players as Charlie was popular with them. Jimmy Ruffell in an interview with the author Brian Belton in 1973 declared that it was Charlie who took the team day to day and it was he who took them to Wembley in 1923 for the first Cup Final to be played there.

The whole period of Charlie's tenure as manager was spent in the second division and in his first season nearly ended in relegation to the third tier, but in the following seasons he steadied the ship while playing some attacking football with some of the greatest players to play for the club. Vic Watson, Len Gouldon who would win 14 caps for England in this period. Jackie Morton would also appear for England and towards the end of his time another long time servant of the club established himself in the team, Ernie Gregory. He also appointed after the war former player Ted Fenton as his assistant and thus continuing the West Ham way of ex players assisting the manager until they could take over. 

And so in 1950 it was time for him to retire, aged 71, and in gratitude of his service he was granted a testimonial which was against Arsenal at the Boleyn. He stayed close to the club acting in ambassadorial roles and Nine years later the club held a 80th birthday for him inviting back many of the players he and coached and managed. He lived out his life living in Oulton Crescent at Barking, he died in 1970 aged 92.

 

Testimonial line up V Arsenal                   With Syd King